The First Shoe

Rock Climbing Shoes, there are a ton of different brands and types and everyone is always talking about them in the gym. So? When should I get a rock climbing shoe and how do I know what’s right for me?

So let’s start by determining if it’s time to buy your first pair of shoes!

Some Quick Questions to Ask Yourself!

• Are you committed to continuing to climb?

• Do you plan on climbing regularly?

• Are you tired of rentals?

• Well if you answered yes to any of those maybe it’s time to get yourself a climbing shoe!

Let’s do a Quick Dive into buying your perfect First Shoe!

Now, if you have climbed for a while, you might have heard a couple of things.

“Make sure they’re tight!” or “You should buy an aggressive shoe!” or maybe even “I like Blank Pair you should get it too!”

Now, to break it down let’s start with the first thing you’ve probably heard.

Rock climbing shoes are meant to be uncomfortable. Now as much as I want to say, no they should feel great on your feet and never squeeze your toes or hurt. I would be lying.

Though there are two things to keep in mind when it comes to tightness when buying your climbing show!

Are they leather or synthetic?

Now why does that matter?

Well, it affects how much the shoe will stretch! So if you are currently looking for a pair and don’t know, you can search for the shoe on your favourite browser or ask the person helping you buy a specific shoe and they can probably tell you!

Leather

Now for your first shoe if you are getting a leather shoe try and get a size down or quite an uncomfortable fit. The key is not painful but tight and uncomfortable as this shoe will stretch!

My personal recommendation is about one less than when the shoe felt quote on quote “Comfortable”

Synthetic

Now for your first Synthetic shoe, try to get a similar if not the same size as your outdoor shoe to start trying them on. As It should feel okay to climb in right out of the box with minimal discomfort beyond what you expect with a climbing shoe as it still will stretch a small amount and climbing shoes are inherently uncomfortable!

Aggressive? Non-Aggressive?

Well, you might have heard about aggressive shoes and no they don’t actually attack you though maybe feel like it on your feet a bit. All it is a style of shoe and my personal recommendation for your first shoe would be a less aggressive shoe.

Now what does that mean?

Another way to describe it is symmetrical and asymmetrical meaning that symmetrical is similar to a runner or day too day shoe as the big toe lines up to the heel or asymmetrical where the toe is more towards the centre of the heel.

Once again I recommended buying what would be considered beginner shoes as they generally have one more rounded toe making it more comfortable as well as a flat sole or slight curve through the sole of the shoe and are symmetrical.

Which just means your foot isn’t put into an unnatural position!

If you want a slightly more competitive shoe there are in-betweens so look for a shoe that has a slight curvature in the sole of the shoe or maybe a more defined point at the end.

Finally, in regards to shoe shape, there are men's and women’s shoes the only differences are that these are important is it is meant for heavier climbers versus lighter climbers and thicker feet versus thinner feet.

Why is this important?

Well, pick the shoe based on your feet and weight, not gender as it’s just a shoe and they both generally look similar as the shoe that is designed for your build is more comfortable!

Indoors or Outdoors?

So another important consideration is whether you climbing indoors or outdoors!

The main thing is outside the rock that you climb isn’t designed for you to climb and there are varied weather conditions!

This means that you need to keep in mind one will the shoe slip off, versus staying tight, and how sturdy is the rubber!

Two key things to keep in mind as the gym climbing holds and the wall is built with holding in mind climbing the shoe will generally hold up better in the gym making it easier to have a thinner or use softer rubber for the outsole of the shoe.

The shoe's outsole is the rubber part that touches the wall; a thicker and sturdier rubber will generally keep up better for longer and be better for small edges while climbing!

Another thing is laces, straps and slip-on. This ties into our last point as well!

Bouldering verses Routes?

Let’s split these up real quick!

Bouldering:

• Shorter climbs

• No ropes

• Falling onto matt

Routes

• Longer climbs

• Harness and Ropes

• No matt

What does this mean when talking about laces, straps and slip-on shoes? Well, you can imagine a slip-on shoe might slip off while climbing which is unfortunate and not frequent but they can become loose so if you are thirty feet up and now missing a show versus five you can imagine the level of frustration of losing the shoe might be different!

Laces are the opposite they are tight and will fit your foot well like laced-up shoes but tighter (cause climbing shoes) and the risk of them slipping off is much lower.

Now straps are a mixture of laced tightening adjustment and slip-on for ease of taking on and off! Just like anything in between it’s good at both but not as good at either individually.

All this means is to determine your level of shoe slipping risk vs tighter fit and ease of getting off for when you climb!

Another thing is for Bouldering versus Routes you should keep in mind the length of the climbs! As since bouldering climbs are short at most a couple minutes if you really hang on the shoe being more aggressive or uncomfortable might be easier to deal with as you can just pop them off once you are done. But routes making sure the shoe is comfortable is crucial as you will have them on for easily a couple minutes depending on the route and its length!

Still always recommend getting a comfortable shoe for you!

Now One last go through our Checklist!

• Think it’s time for your first pair?

• What level of discomfort are you willing to have for your shoe?

• Are you climbing indoors or outdoors?

• Are you Bouldering or climbing Routes?

If you’ve answered all that go find your perfect first shoe!

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